S.Korea union workers fly to DPRK for friendly soccer match

Hundreds of South Korean union workers flew Wednesday to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for the first friendly soccer match in about eight years with their DPRK counterparts.

A total of 162 South Korean laborers from the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions were aboard a special flight from Seoul to Pyongyang at about 12:30 p.m. (0330 GMT).

South Korea's unification ministry has approved the workers' visit to the DPRK as it was aimed at boosting private exchanges between the peoples of the two Koreas.

The workers were scheduled to stay in Pyongyang for four days through Thursday to play a friendly soccer match, the first in eight years.

The soccer competition between the workers of South Korea and the DPRK was initiated in 1999, and the second round was held in 2007. Since then, no match had been held amid tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The sporting event came after the two Koreas successfully wrapped up a week-long reunion event on Monday for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

Nearly 1,000 divided families met their long-lost relatives in the DPRK's Mount Kumgang resort after more than six decades of separation. Enditem